Coalition Asks for Additional Time for Public Comments on Food Safety

By P. Scott Shearer, Bockorny Group, Washington, DC

Mon, 2013-12-02 17:12

A coalition of 75 bipartisan members of Congress are asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a second draft of regulations for public comment before issuing the final Food Safety Modernization rules. The members in a letter to FDA said, “We believe the rules as currently proposed would result in a multitude of unintended consequences that would be severely detrimental to national, regional and local agriculture. By seeking additional input through second proposed rules for public comment before final rules, we believe that producers’ concerns can be addressed and unintended consequences can be greatly mitigated.”

The FDA issued two proposed rules (1,200 pages) implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a 2011 law that overhauled food safety laws to increase the safety of our food supply. The rules address preventative controls for human food and standards for the growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of produce for human consumption.